Tobias Schuwerk

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Research

Social interaction relies on a range of cognitive processes dedicated to make sense of other’s and our own behavior. A powerful tool to explain and predict behavior is Theory of Mind, our ability to attribute mental states, such as beliefs, intentions or desires to others and ourselves. I study Theory of Mind in children and adults with and without autism. I am particularly interested in its (neuro-)cognitive basis and its development during childhood. I try to find out if –and if so, how– the cognitive processes underlying Theory of Mind work differently in people with autism. Further, I investigate when and how we mentalize in our everyday lives. I employ a range of methods including behavioral measures, fMRI, TMS, experience sampling method and passive mobile sensing.

Current projects

Heureka! A platform for participatory autism research

It has long been claimed that direct experiences of autistic people and their parents are crucial to inform and guide theoretically important and practically relevant research. Yet, structures that enable systematic participation are often missing. Heureka! addresses this issue. In this forum, autistic and non-autistic people collaborate on designing autism research that can make the highest possible contribution to improving living conditions of autistic people and their families. Only a systematic participation of people with autism and their families helps to prevent that researchers introduce a bias from their non-autistic point of view to their research, without hearing the experts on their own: people with autism. This project is developed in cooperation with Leonhard Schilbach and Hanna Thaler (MPI for Psychiatry, Munich).

The role of language in early Theory of Mind development

Language development contributes to the acquisition of explicit Theory of Mind from the age of three onwards. Recent research suggests that explicit Theory of Mind, acquired at around four years of age, is preceded by implicit Theory of Mind, a preverbal way of processing other’s mental states. To date, we lack systematic knowledge about developmental relations between language and both forms of Theory of Mind before age four. In a longitudinal and microgenetic training study, the role of language in the transition from implicit, preverbal understanding of the mind to later explicit, verbal Theory of Mind, is addressed investigated. I am a Co-PI on this project which is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

ManyBabies2: A multi-lab study on Infant Theory of Mind

A number of recent partial or failed replications of influential studies on Theory of Mind in infancy challenge the assumption that children are sensitive to another person’s false belief before four years of age. The current empirical situation regarding the robustness and validity of spontaneous or implicit Theory of Mind in infancy is complex and puzzling. As a response to this unsatisfying situation, experts in the field recently launched a comprehensive, systematic, large-scaled multi-lab replication project under the umbrella of the ManyBabies project. This project, called “ManyBabies 2 (Implicit Theory of Mind)” aims at systematically replicating and validating key findings on Theory of Mind in infancy. Crucially, original authors and authors of failed replication attempts are working together to carve out optimal methodological procedures. In a first step, the anticipatory looking paradigm by Southgate, Senju, and Csibra (2007) is conceptually replicated. All involved researchers form the ManyBabies2 consortium. Together with Hannes Rakoczy and Mike C. Frank I am currently coordinating this project.

Schuwerk, T., & Paulus, M. (2016). Preschoolers, Adolescents, and Adults Visually Anticipate an Agent’s Efficient Action; But Only After Having Learned to Make Use of Frequency Information. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 69(4), 800-816. DOI: 10.1080/17470218.2015.1061028.